Interview with The Wire, Portsmouth, NH: “Dwelling in Possibility isn’t a guide to de-cluttering a home (though Mansfield does write about clutter), nor does it offer step-by-step instructions on how to make a place, whether private or public, feel homey. Instead, it invites the reader to dream about different houses, different lives, and different times and places. It’s a book about being, not doing.”

Gwarlingo. Definition?
* A thoughtfully curated journal of contemporary art that combines all art forms & dispenses with unnecessary jargon
* A place for readers to get experienced advice about process, business, & the challenges of the creative life
* (And literally…) A Welsh word for the rushing sound a grandfather clock makes before it strikes.

Gwarlingo is where you can join the 40,000 readers who follow Michelle Aldredge’s colorful, thoughtful writing about the arts. She recently wrote about Dwelling in Possibility. Read her fine story here.

From an interview I did with Book Notes New Hampshire: Occasional notes on New Hampshire’s book community from the Director of the Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library:

What’s the best piece of advice (writing or otherwise) you were ever given?

Go ahead and fail. In college my friends and I read E. B. White. His impressive collected essays had just been published. We admired his work; it set a high standard. One day my best friend came back from the library where he had been reading about the essayist and told me that White had spent time researching a story about the United Nations when it was new, but he had set it aside.

That was a small revelation. Even E. B. White had started stories he didn’t finish. It’s an important lesson. If you’re going to follow your curiosity there will be many dead ends and wrong turns, but that’s all part of exploring the world.

When ordering books please consider the Toadstool Bookshop. The Toadstool is our local independent bookstore. It’s a great place — you’d love to have a Toadstool Bookshop in your town. Order my book here and I’ll gladly sign it.